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SHILLINGTON – Kelly Hamilton shook her head and smiled.
“Do not get me started on Liz,” Central Bucks South’s junior defensive back said when the subject of goalie Liz Lewallen came up in conversation.
“She is the boss – let’s just say that,” Hamilton continued. “She was amazing. She’s our savior.”And that effectively summed up the senior goalie’s stellar performance in South’s electrifying 1-0 win over a talented Hempfield squad in Saturday night’s PIAA Class AAA quarterfinal game at Governor Mifflin High School.
“She played the game of the century,” South coach Christina Ford said of Lewallen. “She was solid. You need your goalie to make big plays. I don’t even know how many she made, but you couldn’t ask more of a goalie than to keep us in the game.
“She was fabulous, absolutely fabulous.”
Anything less than fabulous would not have been enough. Lewallen had kick saves, glove saves and stick saves. She made a tackle save at the top of the circle and also had a diving save on the left post. All told, she turned away 14 shots, many nothing short of spectacular.
“I want to make it to the state finals – we all do,” Lewallen said matter-of-factly. “That’s our goal. We want (to win the) conference, districts and states.”
So it was only appropriate that the senior goalie was the very first to leap in the air in celebration when – with time expired in regulation – a shot on Hempfield’s 16th corner of the game deflected wide of the cage, bringing to an end 60 minutes of high octane hockey.
“They were down (in our defensive circle) the whole first half and half of the second half,” Lewallen said of the Black Knights. “The corner at the end – that would happen, but we got it out. It was done.”
The senior goalie needed only one word to describe her emotions.
“Stoked,” she said. “That was a hard game.”
Hard doesn’t cover it. The Black Knights were on the attack from the opening whistle, drawing 10 consecutive corners before the Titans managed any semblance of an attack.
“It did not look good in the beginning,” Hamilton said. “I don’t think I’ve ever played a field hockey game with that many corners in it, but our defense was on top of things this game.”
While Lewallen stole the spotlight, South’s defensive corner team of Hamilton, Maddy Harding, Kate Schneider, and Sarah Hughes also deserves plenty of credit.
“They just did a fabulous, fabulous job,” Ford said. Hughes was the Titans’ fearless flier on defensive corners.
“Oh my gosh, I’m speechless,” she said. “They had 16 corners, and Liz didn’t let in one. That is ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous.
“We always trust, Liz. We know she’s a solid goalie/defender, and our defense is just so solid this year. We have a very good defense.”
That’s not to say things didn’t get a little frantic in a first half the Black Knights owned – they did, and it took some time for the Titans to adjust to Hempfield’s style of play.
“They dribbled with the ball on their stick all over the field, and they switched angles,” Hamilton said. “They never dribbled with it off their sticks, so it was difficult for people to keep their feet moving.”
The Titans survived Hempfield’s 10 corners, but with just under six minutes remaining in the half, the Black Knights came within inches of taking the lead when a shot ricocheted off the right post.
It wasn’t until after Ford called a timeout with 4:02 remaining in the opening half that the Titans began to find their stride.
“It was like, ‘What are we doing? We have to get our act together,’” Hughes said. “In the huddle, Ford told us to calm down. That’s what she always tells us – ‘Calm down, breathe, get your act together, we can do this,’ and we just began working like a team.”
Ford made a defensive adjustment that paid immediate dividends.
“We were just giving them way too much space and time with the ball,” the Titans’ coach said. “That’s not the way we play. We do not play back on our heels defensively. They needed to regroup and refocus, and (after the timeout), they went out there and played better.”
The Titans showed signs of life offensively after the timeout, drawing a pair of corners and collecting a shot by Harding that deflected wide. Still, they had to feel fortunate to go into halftime locked in a scoreless tie.
“The beginning of the game was brutal,” Lewallen said. “It was absolutely brutal. It was corner after corner after corner.
“In games like this, it’s normal for us to get frustrated, but Ford always gives us – breathe, close your eyes, and we relax. We don’t play well frustrated.”
Nine minutes into the second half, South drew a rare corner but came up empty. Then – when the Black Knights least expected it –sophomore Kayla Kenney saved a Franny Ryan pass from going over the right end line and somehow found the corner of the cage for a goal that put the Titans on top 1-0 at the 16:40 mark of the half. The play was set up by Colleen Kempf, who brought the ball down the right alley.“They were very tough, and we struggled in the first half, but we knew we had to pick up the momentum and take advantage when we were in the circle,” Kenney said. “When Franny passed it back over, and it started to go out of bounds, I knew I just had to reach as hard as I could for it.
“The goalie was a little bit out, so I pushed it in behind her. It felt amazing because this game meant a lot to get to the semifinals. I can even explain it. It just felt good to get that goal and know we were winning.”
The Titans may have been winning, but the game was far from over.
As expected, the Black Knights went on the attack, drawing six corners.
“Definitely having a fast flier helps – Sarah Hughes flies really fast and keeps her stick down,” Hamilton said. “That helps, especially when they dish it off to the left and the right – you have to be ready for that.”
Four of Hempfield’s second-half corners came in the final five minutes. On the first, Lewallen stopped a rocket by Jenna Stover. Moments later, she made a dazzling hand save of a bouncing ball on the goal line. The Titans’ defense also did a superb job of getting the ball out of the circle – even though the Black Knights kept bringing it back in.
“The defense played great today,” Lewallen said. “They got everything out. They were just on top of it.”
With two minutes remaining, Lewallen delivered a diving save, and the Black Knights weren’t finished yet, drawing a final corner as time expired. This time, the Knights’ shot never made it to the cage, and as the ball went harmlessly over the end line, the Titans’ celebration could at long last begin.
“It’s amazing,” Hughes said. “There are no words. You don’t even know.
“Everyone played their hearts out.”
The Titans will face Hershey – the third place team from District 3 – in Tuesday’s state semifinal game at Governor Mifflin High School at 4 p.m. Hershey upset previously undefeated Emmaus 1-0 in a quarterfinal game on Saturday. Tuesday’s game will be a rematch of last year’s state semis – a 4-1 Hershey win, also at Governor Mifflin. The Titans are hoping for a different outcome this time around.
CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 1, HEMPFIELD 0
Hempfield 0 0-0
Central Bucks South 0 1-1
Goals/Assists: CB South – Kayla Kenney 1-0, Franny Ryan 0-1.
Shots: H-16, CBS-4.
Corners: H-16, CBS-3
Saves: Joanna Youssef (H) 3, Liz Lewallen (CBS) 14.
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